Aug 30, Kenosha, WI

Awoke this morning in Racine after an all night rain to cooler temperatures (low mid 40's overnight) and not much wind. So we moved ten miles south to Kenosha. This moves us closer to Chicago, is a new place to see and has a grocery store nearby. We miss having a car.

Three Breakwater Lighthouses mark the main channel into the port of Kenosha

We enter another breakwater to the south of the main Kenosha channel to access the South Point Marina

We are docked at the South Point Marina which has all the facilities and is near the trolly and the older downtown. The folks in the slip next to us welcome us to their marina. They are Ron and Lynda Schluter and Bret Williams aboard the FANTASEA VI. We ask about grocery shopping and they immediately offer us their car as there is no grocery close by the marina. Wow! Soooo nice. We accept and come back loaded with supplies and ready for Chicago.

South Port Marina

After an overcast morning, the weather has turned sunny and nice in the afternoon. We walk the area around the marina and find there is a lot of redevelopment taking place here. There is a mixture of new residential condominiums and new retail. Several buildings are complete but the occupancy is not very good so far. Only one restaurant in the retail and no stores open.

Residential on the left and retail on the right

Mostly vacant

The marina and surrounding land was formerly the main, fully integrated, factory site of American Motors. AMC was sold several times and finally went bankrupt in the 1980's. The factory and the property finally reverted to the city for unpaid taxes. The factory was torn down and the site cleaned up and is now in the process of being redeveloped. The marina seems full but the development of the condominiums and the retail does not seem to be going very well.